From Attuned to Ascended to Ancient, Kiada Njovu-Reyes has been reborn several times throughout her short life, but her fighting spirit has never once been diminished. With beauty, grace and a quick wit, Kiada is the whole package wrapped in an infectious smile. Recent endeavours have found her in the heart of the Hollowed Grounds, aiding the region and bettering it for her new Ancient kin, and whatever she does next, we know it's sure to pack a punch.
Congratulations, Kiada!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Even from the partial skyship ride she'd taken thus far, Charlie could tell that Caido had changed a lot. The land was all split up in ways it had never been before, and Halo? Who would willingly live somewhere covered in permafrost, the ancient couldn't possibly guess at: Cannibals and madmen she assumed (and was partially correct, in that).
Perhaps to spare her the worst of the chill and shock the Grounds would be in terms of temperature alone, Danta and Asta had delayed their arrival by stopping first in "Torchline". From the air Charlie could see why it was called this, but all she really cared about was the sun on her skin.
After having done a quick bit of shopping (her only outfit had been the one she was entombed in), Charlie marched toward the Rainbow Road in hopes of finding some exotic stones that she could use in rituals or to give as an offering to Dygra. Dressed in a richly patterned sundress that barely made it to the middle of her thigh (the sizing was for a child, after all), the ancient strolled barefoot along the rainbow stones, pausing only to pick up those that glittered as if with fire or blood.
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
He's just... bored, is all. Bored of the same couches to surf and beds to lay in; even his favourite acquaintances at Mother Molly's have day jobs to do (or any time jobs, as it might be), and paying for their time feels a step too far.
And so with Ever still on tour, the botanist has been forced to take an old-school skyship down to Torchline. Just for a change of scenery, you see - and if he happens to run into his fathers or his sister while he's down there, all the better.
Unbeknownst to the botanist, of course, all of his relatives are speaking with other, dead relatives, and it leaves him very much to his own devices.
And so when Charlie appears in the Rainbow Road, said devices are in full swing; on a checkered picnic basket with a set of watercolours beside him and a cigarette of not tobacco between his lips, Mateo is trying to capture the way the sun bounces off the stones all around. Only as he spots a figure (and a teeny tiny one at that) in the distance, his attention entirely shifts.
"Hey!" he calls out, grinning and gesturing before him. "Would you mind standing just here, please? You will set this off very nicely."
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
Like a golden retriever amidst a sea of tennis balls, Charlie wanders around from stone to stone, distracted by each shimmer and sparkle until eventually her hands are full and it occurs to her that perhaps she should have brought a basket. So, making a little cairn to return to later, the ancient continued her explorations until a voice snags her attention and she eagerly complies with its tug.
"Hey!" Charlie calls back, waving as if she and Mateo were the oldest of old friends. Trotting over, she glances quickly at the spread he has, before beaming. "Sure! I love setting things off." She sings eagerly, before striking a pose where he'd indicated: her tail curls out behind her like a mischievous cat, and she's pushed one shoulder back and thrust out her hip suggesting not only was she aware of her assets, but that she knew how to use them as well.
"Er...what is it I'm setting off?"
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
"Meravigliosa!" Mateo praises the stranger as she approaches, taking a long drag from his cigarette before setting it down and trading out paintbrush for pencil. Blue eyes brighten further to see her so confidently striking a pose against the backdrop of the light; one that has streamers of gold and white cascading against her body and has the botanist letting out a low whistle of appreciation.
"You are setting off my masterpiece," he informs her, glancing from the beauty before him to the one he's creating on his canvas, and he soon has a sketch worth adding to. "Molto bene, now if you could just stay a little longer..." Not wanting her to get bored or unbalanced (or a cramp), he works quickly with his watercolours, bringing out the ruby of her horns, the golden light against her rich hair, the brilliant patterns of her dress.
"Perfetta!" he exclaims when the base colours are down, Mateo lowering the canvas to let them dry in the sun. "Here, you see? You are just what it needed."
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
"Oooh. That's a fancy-sounding thing you just said." The ancient trills, making sure not to move her body. "Ooh, a masterpiece." She continues, crinkling her nose with enthusiasm in lieu of clapping her hands together or waving her tail. "It's no problem at all. Sometimes I'm on my knees for hours so I've gotten pretty used to ignoring cramps when they come up." Besides, she'd been encased in stone for a few hundred years, so if her body had any complaints at all, she was quite happy to tell it to stfu.
Eyebrows raised, Charlie waits until she's quite sure that she can move, before coming to Mateo's side and slumping down next to him. Leaning against him with the same bright familiarity that she'd called out to him, the ancient gasps loudly to see her figure so delicately and wonderfully captured on paper. "Purr feta!" She agrees, beaming at the botanist. "What will you do with me now that you have me? Will I hang in a gallery somewhere?"
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"My tongue can say much fancier things, if you liked that," Mateo says with a smile that only dimples one of his cheeks, shifting enough that she might be able to come and sit beside him. Of all the people in all of Caido, few would likely match the Ancient's enthusiasm with the same blase enjoyment; for better or worse, then, she has encountered the botanist.
"On your knees for hours?" He raises his eyebrows. "That cannot be good for them. A massage is good for working out kinks." Accepting her nestled against his side, he seems just as pleased with the new centrepiece of his painting, reaching for his cigarette and taking a drag, before offering it out to her.
"You know, I have no idea. I just paint them," he confesses with a laugh. "I am Mateo. It is good to meet you."
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
"Oh, please." Charlie begs. "Only don't tell me what any of it means, I just like how it sounds." Maybe the best things would have the worst meanings and then it would ruin the lovely way it rolled off of the Botanist's tongue, and Charlie surely didn't want that.
"Or a nice lava bath." She ancient agrees; she of course was talking about worshipping on her knees for hours, but because that sometimes involved a sexual component, she'd not fault Mateo for the places his mind had gone. Charlie's blue eyes glance at the cigarette, which she takes immediately in her small hands. That it will be returned to the botanist with lipstick stains is something that she'll never apologize for. Tilting her head back, Charlie exhales a slow breath that has several smoke rings leaving her lips before offering the botanist a sly smile. "Have you ever mixed it with snapdragon? That's one of my favourite things." SnapDragon Cigarette is one of Charlie's favourite stardew items
Laughing as if he'd just said the funniest thing but not seeming disingenuous about it, the ancient leaned over to press a kiss against one of Mateo's scruffy cheeks. "You too! I'm Charlie!"
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Ovviamente. Non voglio rovinare il mistero," Mateo says, the words murmured quietly between them like a secret. "I cannot say that I would enjoy a lava bath as much as you, but I can imagine the appeal. I prefer a hotspring, myself," he says; he knows she's an Ancient from the usual tells, and hopefully his lack of horns and a tail will discourage any literal burning between them.
Given Mateo's own propensity for lipstick, he has absolutely nothing to complain about as the cigarette is returned, and he idly flicks some ash from it before taking a second drag and setting it down. "I have, in fact," he says, of the snapdragon addition. "I have recently cultivated a version that you can put under your tongue as an oil. I daresay you could put it in tea as well, but..." But when you take snapdragon you tend to want the effect instantly.
"Charlie," he repeats, smiling cheerfully and setting the canvas aside. For Mateo's part, he's dressed in a pair of fairly obnoxious shorts (there are palm trees on them in various colours) and a tank top that used to be white until he used it exclusively for painting. "Are you up here just to take in the view and act as a model for hapless artists?" he wonders.
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
Closing her eyes, Charlie moans reverently as she hears the words, imagining the sounds as bits of silk slipping across her skin as she sacrifices some squealing animal to her goddess. "Hotsprings can be nice too. Are there any here?" She wonders, glancing over her shoulder as if she might have missed some massive sign that pointed towards such a place.
With an expression of gasp! Charlie beams at the botanist's innovations, even if he's right in that it would be a bit too slow for her. "I can shift into a Lial, so sometimes during our rituals, I'd shift and we'd flay bits of my hide right into the fire." The smoke combined with the vigorous cardiovascular activities had the ancients of old getting high exceptionally fast. "But an oil sounds really convenient. You could lick it off someone during sex I imagine." She suggests with the sort of casual tone that would imply mixing different potables and drugs during her sexcapades was nothing new.
Laughing, Charlie shoots Mateo an oh you! look before shaking her head. "Nahhh, I've actually been gone for a really long time. I don't really know how long, because time started changing when the barrier went up I guess, but...well, back when I was alive, Caido was just one big continent, so..." So yeah. It had clearly been a minute. "We just stopped so I could pick things up before heading back to the Grounds. I hear that's where the rest of my kind live."
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Not here, I do not think," Mateo says a touch sadly, though he supposes the geysers that erupt along the Rainbow Road might count. "But up in Stormbreak where I am from, we have a large spring." Pointing skyward, the floating city can just about be visible with the naked eye. Not that he's all that interested in Stormbreak, honestly, not with how Charlie reacts to the travelling tongue spilling from his lips - not to mention their shared interest in snapdragon.
He knows he's a dream come true, but has he accidentally done the same with this woman, he wonders?
"That sounds very interesting," he croons, and he means it; not that he's particularly into the flaying aspects, but inhaling drugs from a bonfire? Count Mateo in. "You can," he agrees of his oil based snapdragon, "and I have." And it works a treat, can confirm.
Tilting his head to hear of her journey through the ages all the way down to Torchline's shores, the botanist leans back on one hand. "I have heard the same thing, though I have only been to the Grounds once or twice. What a shame that you are not staying longer."
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
Turning her head, Charlie sheilds her eyes with one hand and squints into the distance. Slowly the flying city comes into view, and it's with the sort of shocked awe you'd expect from someone who'd casually skipped half a millennia, that Charlie eyes Stormbreak. "You live all the way up there? On that?" Surely he's kidding.
"Just imagine it during an orgy, especially if you're with people who don't know what you like. You could leave them little droplets of snapdragon to follow!" Charlie agrees excitedly. "I'll have to buy some from you! I can give you a bunch of my scales too, if they're still hard to come by." Maybe up in the floating city, everything was found in abundance?
"Why is it a shame?" The priestess asks in earnest, turning in towards the Botanist as he leans himself lazily backward. "I haven't seen my family in so long, I'm really excited to see them. I've also heard that the way ancients feast and worship isn't really appreciated everywhere the way it used to be, so.." She shrugs. "I'm definitely starting to get hungry." And not just hungry for a snack, but hungry gonna tear your throat out.
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Mmhm, I do." Mateo smiles briefly back up at the floating city. "You can only get there with a flighted shift, or on the skyships. I have one of my own, but a friend is borrowing it at the moment. Actually, you might meet him in the Hollowed Grounds - his name is Everest Hart. Tell him hello from me, if you see him."
But anyway; Mateo doesn't have to be asked twice to imagine it during an orgy, and he sighs and nods his appreciation. "That does sound wonderful," he agrees. "And of course! I can send some to the Grounds for you if you like. Or... well, I have a small amount with me here, if you would like a taster. It is a bit different to what I would sell in Stormbreak, though." It's his personal stash, and yes, it probably has more than Snapdragon in it, but Charlie seems fine with such things.
"And it is only a shame because I would have liked to have spent some more time with you," he tells her openly, though as she continues, his smile turns somewhat self-deprecating. "Although I would prefer to keep my throat, if you are feeling hungry."
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
"Everest Hart." Charlie repeats, committing it to memory. "Will do!" As for flying all the way up, the ancient gives her head a little shake. "I can fly, but that seems like it looks a lot easier to do than it probably is. The Skyships seemed nice, and there were so many people to talk to." That didn't imply that they all wanted to be talked to of course, but Charlie had a way of slithering into conversations and then not leaving until she was good and ready.
"Well, if you wouldn't mind sharing! I don't have an address or anything in the Grounds, yet." She didn't even have a house, or a cave, or even a bed. "Oh! Well, we have now? And...why don't you come with me!?" Turning to face him, Charlie's face lights up with the idea such that she's nearly fit herself into his lap with her enthusiasm. "Yeah, yeah! I can show you all of the old ways, and tell you all about Dygra, and maybe you can become an ancient too!"
Noticing the way Mateo's smile had turned almost shy, the ancient reaches out to tickle her fingers along one of his cheeks. "Well you do look rather delicious, but no. I want to make sure I do things properly for my first ritual back. You know, daggers, urns, full moon." She shrugs.
they say i did something bad then why'd it feel so good?
Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!
Hella golden retriever energy. Small unrefined horns made of ruby. Regular spade-shaped tail.
"Mm, it only takes maybe half a day on one of the skyships?" Mateo nods. "I do not have any flighted shifts - or any shifts at all - so it is all I know." Not that he's complaining, including when it comes to having people to talk to; something he finds himself in sore need of lately, more so than usual.
A lack of an address doesn't pose much of a roadblock, at least, and the botanist waves a casual hand and sets his canvas down. "I can have it sent to the Temple, or the... I believe it is called the Dusklight, where the Theocrat has his office," he suggests. "I am sure someone will keep the package for you until you collect it." As for coming with her and becoming an Ancient, Mateo lets out a musical laugh as he digs through the satchel bag at his side.
"A lovely idea, bella, but I do not concern myself with any of the gods if I can help it. I like to be my own person." He winks, withdrawing a vial of red-tinged oil and an eyedropper. "And I am glad to hear that - I hope that your ritual is everything you hope it to be. For now, may I?" He gestures to the vial.
if anything could fall at all, it's the world that falls away from me
